No person shall place, maintain, or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking, or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic- control device or railroad sign or signal, which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view any device of any railroad sign or signal; and no person shall place or maintain, nor shall any public authority permit, upon any street, any traffic sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising. No person shall place, maintain, or display any flashing, rotating, or alternating light, beacon, or other lighted device which is visible from any highway and which may be mistaken for or confused with a traffic- control device or for an authorized warning device or an emergency vehicle. This shall not be deemed to prohibit the erection, upon private property adjacent to highways, of signs giving useful directional information and a type that cannot be mistaken for official signs.
(B) Every such prohibited sign, signal, device, or marking is declared to be a public nuisance, and the Police Department is empowered and required to remove the same without notice.
(Ord. 534, passed 9-16-87)